McDonald's Employees Wish You'd Stop Doing This In The Drive-Thru

There's something about McDonald's that many of us just can't resist. There are the crispy fries, delicious sandwiches and burgers, and dreamy ice cream concoctions (although we probably should be staying away from those, considering we've been warned time and again about how often those ice cream machines break), to name a few. As much as we all love a good, simple drive-thru order of a burger and fries, there's a lot more going on in a run-of-the-mill McDonald's restaurant than we often realize.

We all know by now that fast food workers have to put up with a lot of baloney. Between correctly taking down difficult and complicated orders, dealing with bizarre trends, and preparing food in a timely fashion, fast food work is definitely not an easy-breezy job. While there are a bunch of ways that customers can make McDonald's employees' lives easier, there are also plenty of things we do to make it harder on them without even realizing it.

It's been said a few times but clearly warrants being said again: Pay it forward lines at the drive-thru can make things stressful for employees. (If you're unfamiliar, pay it forward lines happen when one customer offers to pay for the following customer's order, and the process repeats — sometimes dozens of times, says Fansided.) A recent Reddit thread is full of fast food employees lamenting about the headache that this otherwise good deed can give them, especially around the holiday season when people are generally feeling more charitable and generous.

U/Moe6458, a manager at McDonald's, wrote, "this act makes the employees lives miserable. If it's just one person, fine. But paying it forward rarely stops with just one, and begins and endless chain of people paying for the car behind them. It's a recipe for disaster, people's orders getting messed up." Starbucks employees have critiqued pay it forward lines, too, saying they're a recipe for mixed-up orders and miscommunication (via Reddit). While covering someone's order is a kind thing to do, u/Moe6485 recommends finding other ways to be generous. "Donate to shelters and food banks. Leave a balance on a vending machine. Be kind to fast food employees who are underpaid, overworked, and really just want a holiday off," they said. TLDR: It's still the season of giving, but be aware that your generosity might be giving someone else a headache!